A brief very brief overview of Pennsylvania's state wildfire agency and their 2021 wildfire season

Pennsylvania is a large state, but New Jersey does share a border with Pennsylvania and I do find myself thinking about wildfires in Pennsylvania, especially during the spring and fall wildfire seasons. I believe that the spring fire season in Pennsylvania is the same as here in New Jersey, March through May and again in the fall. I am not always tied into wildfire news in Pennsylvania, so I want to thank Mike Archer of Wildfire News of the Day, whose April 12th newsletter included a couple of articles about wildfires that burned in Pennsylvania the end of last week. 

• Two wildfires, fueled by strong winds, in Ohiopyle State Park in western Pennsylvania burned about 450 acres were contained on Friday, April 9th, see this article by CBS in Pittsburgh. 
• On or about Wednesday, April 7th, according to this report from YourErie two wildfires were reported in the Allegany National Forest in Pennsylvania. One burned about 261 and was estimated to be at 90 percent containment on April 12th, the second burned about 227 acres and was at 90 percent containment.

Reading about these two wildfires in western Pennsylvania got me interested in checking out the Pennsylvania state agency responsible for wildfires. The agency responsible for wildfires in Pennsylvania is the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) . I knew from poking around that there are 20 State Forest Districts in Pennsylvania, I believe each district is responsible for wildfires in their district. The DCNR has a page for wildfires that may be found here, with links for wildfire danger, historical statistics (some are by district), burn bans,  a nice fire tower story map, etc.. As I write this there is a summary report for 2020 wildfire season in PA that is available, it can be found here, but be advised that if you are arriving here in future years that the link may no longer be valid. I was interested in the following statistics from the 2020 summary report:

• 1.508 wildfires burned 3,021 acres with 17 structures destroyed, 2 fatalities and 12 injuries;
• 99.5 percent of these wildfires were caused by humans;
• the 10 year average is 750 wildfires and 3,500 acres burned;
• the largest wildfire burned 812 acres in early November in Monroe County, PA in northeastern PA.
• Pennsylvania DCNR air operations worked seven wildfires dropping 8,200 gallons.

Spring 2017 wildfire season - SEAT contracts in New Jersey and Pennsylvannia

It is early spring in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania and that means that the spring wildfire season is or will soon be upon us. Here in New Jersey SEATs in New Jersey Forest Fire Service Division B and Division C will go on contract on or about April 10th for a period of approximately five weeks, ending on or about May 15th. Dates are subject to change. As I write this on April 7th, much of New Jersey and adjoining areas have experienced three days of rainfall in the last week, rainfall of varying amounts. At least in my neck of the woods, the ground is somewhat saturated. But the ground can dry out quickly.

NJFFS Division B’s SEAT is an Air Tractor 802 (800 gallons). The SEAT that will be on contract in Division C is an Air Tractor 602 (600 gallons) from Downstown Aero. This will be Downstown’s  fiftieth year providing aerial fire fighting services in New Jersey.

April 10, 2017 Update: Downstown's AT-602 goes on contract April 10th. To show you how quickly things can change, there is enhanced fire danger in the southern part of NJ and eastern PA this afternoon and evening. I am not quite sure when the 802 in Division B goes on contract, when I get a date, I'll update this post.

April 26, 2017 Update: I am not quite sure when the 802 in Division B went on contract. I believe that she was on contract on or about April 17, 2017.

 obtained on April 7, 2017 from http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/fire/ff_aboutus.htm

Meanwhile in Pennsylvania, an Air Tractor 802 (800 gallons) is on contract until at least May 5th, working out of the Moshannon Wildfire Air Operations Center at the Mid-State Regional Airport. The AT-802 is joined by a Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter. The Centre Daily Times has a nice two-part article on the Pennsylvania spring wildfire season. In part one (April 3rd) you will read about some good background information about wildfire presentation and the like. The article also discusses the very important role of the volunteer fire companies who are often to first to respond to wildfires and how wildfires are fought on the ground with support from aerial resources. In part two (April 5th), you will read about the AT-802 on contract in PA, with a some great photos of the 802 that are a must see! In addition, you will read about how aerial (and ground) resources are deployed to the wildfire. I never know how long newspaper articles will be available, but I can say that accessed both articles on the date I posted this article (April 7th).

A look at wildfires in Pennsylvania (2016 wildfire season)

On a quiet day after what was for me a moderate wet snow fall yesterday (not so for areas of eastern Long Island and Connecticut, I am a little tired. Interesting because I did have some good help cleaning up after the snow fall. An interesting snow fall it was because temperatures were into the 60s on Wednesday before the cold front and the snow arrived. So no more prescribed burning in my neck of the woods until the snow melts. Southern New Jersey got less snow while areas of  Northern New Jersey got almost a foot.

I came across a nice video courtesy of my friends of the videos of the week page from my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire page. I enjoyed this video shot by fire photographer Bill Barr. Bill has some nice footage of SEATs and a few shots of a helo doing bucket work. Enjoy!


Direct link to video by Bill Barr

16 Mile Fire and Sam's Point Fire are contained

May 1, 2016 (5:30 PM)

Sam's Point Fire (Ulster County, NY)  According to the Eastern Area Coordination Center's Morning Briefing on Friday, April 29th, the Sam's Point Fire is 100 percent contained. Total acreage burned is 2,028 acres. The Record Online has a photo gallery (May 1st) of images from the fire, along with two articles, here and here. The cause remains unknown, but human activity is a possibility because the fire started near a popular hiking trail.

Some of you may know that the area burned by the Sam's Point Fire is in the Minnewaska State Preserve; all the trails in the Sam's Point area are closed until further notice. More information may be found on the main page for the Minnewaska State Preserve. The New York New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) maintains the trails in the Minnewaska State Preserve. the NYNJTC has a nice map of the area burned by the fire that may found here as well as Sam's Point Fire news page (accessed on May 1st).

Sixteen Mile Fire (Pike and Monroe Counties, PA) The Pocono Record is reporting that this fire was declared 100 percent contained (8,032 acres burned) on Sunday morning, see this May 1st article.

16 Mile Fire (PA) and Sam's Point Fire (NY) -- Update #2

Yesterday (April 27th) I continued writing about the 16 Mile Fire (Pike and Monroe Counties, PA) and the Sam's Point Fire (near Ellenville,  Ulster County -- NY)

Prepared on April 27th from http://www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

Firefighters have made progress fighting both fires. As appropriate, I'll provide further updates on both both fires in this post.

May 1, 2016 (5:30 PM)

Sam's Point Fire (Ulster County, NY)  According to the Eastern Area Coordination Center's Morning Briefing on Friday, April 29th, the Sam's Point Fire is 100 percent contained. Total acreage burned is 2,028 acres. The Record Online has a photo gallery (May 1st) of images from the fire, along with two articles, here and here. The cause remains unknown, but human activity is a possibility because the fire started near a popular hiking trail.

Sixteen Mile Fire (Pike and Monroe Counties, PA) The Pocono Record is reporting that this fire was declared 100 percent contained (8,032 acres burned) on Sunday morning, see this May 1st article

April 28, 2016 (9:30 AM EDT)

Sam's Point Fire (Ulster County, NY) 

According to News10 Albany NY (latest update on April 28th, 8:08 AM EDT) and the Recordonline (last update on April 27th 7:21 PM EDT), the fire has burned about 1,900 acres and is at 60 percent containment.

Sixteen Mile Fire (Pike and Monroe Counties, PA)

The Pocono Record (latest update on April 27th, 10:04 PM) reported on the community meeting in East Stroudsburg where officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Incident Commander talked about the progress firefighters had made fighting this fire. That is, as of the time of last night's community meeting (April 27th 7:30 PM EDT), the fire is at 80 percent containment. The community also learned about the history of the fire from the time it was first reported on April 20th and had a chance to ask questions.

Updates: 16 Mile Fire (PA) and Sam's Point Fire (NY)

April 27, 2016 at 2 PM

I'd like to begin by thanking the Smokey Bear Hotshot crew for coming east to help my wildland firefighter friends fight the Sixteen Mile Fire.

DCNR thanks the Smokey Bear Hotshot team from New Mexico for its assistance w Pocono fire @USForestService pic.twitter.com/kZyztw598x

— Pennsylvania DCNR (@DCNRnews) April 26, 2016

I prepared a map for you showing the locations of the two eastern wildfires that I have been writing about recently. I used the GeoMAC Wildland Fire Support website and used their launch viewer feature to prepare and than make a jpeg image mapping the two fires. I thought that some of you might want to see the location of these two wildfires (16 Mile Fire in  the Pocono Mountains in PA and the Sam's Point Fire near Ellenville -- Ulster County -- NY) that I wrote about yesterday (April 27th).

Prepared on April 27th from http://www.geomac.gov/viewer/viewer.shtml

Sam's Point Fire

According to an April 27th report (video, picture, and a map) on the Recordonline, the size of the fire is 1,574 acres and is at 35 percent containment. Perhaps this downsizing of the wildfire acreage burned is due to better mapping of the wildfire? In another post, there are three videos of firefighting operations that you might like to see, you may watch these Recordonline videos at this link. For some reason, these short videos took awhile to load, I hope you have better luck. Story and photo gallery from News10 -- Albany NY.

Sixteen Mile Fire

The Pocono Record is reporting in an April 27th article that the fire is at 60 percent containment. I have seen higher figures elsewhere but am reporting the lowest containment figure. The acreage burned remains at 8,030 acres as I write this and there do not appear to be any more structures that have been destroyed. The tally of destroyed structures remains at eleven. There will be a community meeting tonight hosted by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources tonight (April 27th) at the East Stroudsburg Highschool North Campus at 279 Timberwolf Drive.

Sixteen Mile Fire, Poconos PA: Update #1

Update: April 26, 2016 at 9:40 AM EDT (scroll down for later updates)

I wrote on April 25th about the Sixteen Mile Fire that started near Wilkinson Lake in Monroe County, PA last Wednesday (April 20th), and has burned south and east into Pike County, PA. The wildfire has burned over 7,800 acres and is at 35% containment as of the evening of April 25th. Investigators have determined that this fire along with a second fire which is now contained were intentionally set. In an update to their Facebook page, Pennsylvania Forests wrote late in the day on April 25th (go here to read the full post):

The fire is estimated to be at 35% containment, but low humidity, rugged terrain, combined with highly flammable fuel types will continue to be problematic factors in controlling the fire. The region may receive up to a half-inch of rain through Tuesday morning, so that precipitation may benefit firefighters somewhat. ... Fire investigators have determined that the now contained Bear Town fire, as well as the continuing Sixteen-Mile fire were intentionally set. The Bureau of Forestry is offering a $5,000.00 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) responsible for setting these fires. Anyone with confidential information can call 717-362-1472 or 570-895-4000. 

A public meeting is schedule for 7:30 PM on Wednesday April 27th at the East Stroudsburg North High School, see this Facebook post from Pennsylvania Forests for more information.

The Pocono Record (Howard Frank; April 25th) continues to report on the Sixteen Mile Fire with updates on the evacuation orders and wildland firefighters coming from around the U.S. to help. Residences under the April 24th evacuation order are seasonal homes with only one resident affected by the evacuation order who is being assisted by the local Red Cross. A hotshot crew from New Mexico, the Smokey Bear Hotshots team has been called in as well as a Type 2 Incident Management Team from Wisconsin.

A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place over the wildfire until Thursday, April 25th at 12:30 PM UTC, from the surface up to and including 5,000 ft AGL. As I write this information on the FAA TFR may be found here, when the TFR expires, the link will no longer work. The TFR is in place to allow for safe operations of firefighting aircraft (two SEATs and helos as well as any observation aircraft).

Some rain, under 1/2 an inch fell at the nearby Pocono Mountains Municipal Airport the night of April 24th/25th. I understand that some rain or showers with the possibility of thunderstorms are forecast over Pike and Monroe Counties (PA) today (April 25th). Any showers will help, but I don't know if it will be the type of rain that will help the wildland firefighters.

Update: April 26 at 4:50 PM EDT

According to the latest update from 69 WFMZ News (April 26th 2:35 PM EDT) the Sixteen Mile Fire has burned an estimated 8,030 acres and is currently at 40 percent containment. Eleven structures are reported to be destroyed including three seasonal homes, two cabins and six outbuildings, One person has been injured, no information is available.

There is a very short update (with photos) from the morning briefing to wildland firefighters on the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Facebook page that may be found here where DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn thanked all the firefighters (local and out of state) who are working to contain the wildfire.

The Pocono Record has a short article on the fire, written on April 26th ( by Kevin Kunzmann, last update at 3:25 PM EDT). Kunzmann spoke to Jim Hyland of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources about the efforts to contain the fire:

Two-thirds of the fire in its southern region has “good containment,” Hyland said, while its progressing blaze in the north has been the most difficult to contain. ...
The focus of work has been on creating containment lines, Hyland said, with plans to connect lines from east and west before burning out fields. Although rainfall Monday night was beneficial for the crews, the effect was minimal. 

... Hyland said the reason for slow development on containment is due to the DCNR's required assurance that an area is absolutely fire proof before confirming containment. 

Once it is 100 percent confirmed that the fire cannot cross a portion of the land, the area is considered contained (Despite rain, 16-Mile Fire still burns by Kevin Kunzmann, Pocono Record, April 26 2016; obtained on April 26, 2016 from http://www.poconorecord.com/news/20160426/despite-rain-16-mile-fire-still-burns)

Stay safe everyone!

April 26th at 9:26 PM

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has posted an article on the Sixteen Mile Fire earlier this afternoon (April 26). Bill also has the Fire Aviation Blog. Earlier today (April 26th), Gabbert posted a nice photograph taken by one of the pilot of one of the SEATs working the Sixteen Mile Fire of a second SEAT also working the same fire. According to Gabbert, both SEATs are AT-802s operated by New Frontier Aviation.

Sixteen Mile Fire, Wilkinson Lake, Poconos PA

The 5,600 acre Sixteen Mile Fire is burning near Wilkinson Lake in the vicinity of Cresco in the Pocono Mountains of PA (Monroe County/Pike County, PA), not far from the border with NJ and NY. The Sixteen Mile Fire, reported to be human caused, has been burning since last Wednesday (April 20th), is at 30 percent containment. Four residences have been destroyed, some are seasonal residences. Evacuations are in place. As I understand it, one of the communities under the evacuation order is near Pine Flats Rd. Aircraft have been making drops on the wildfire in support of wildfire crews on the ground.

News69 WFMZ, reported on the fire in an April 24th report, updated on April 25th  that you may read here (includes a video that I share below). According to a News Eagle report (April 23rd), "over the past three days aircraft have made 183 air drops totaling 62,550 gallons." There are reports of smoke from this fire as far east as Morris County NJ, see this report from the Parsippany NJ Patch.

Spring fire season begins in NJ And PA

New Jersey

Yesterday was the first day that the NJ Forest Fire Service SEATs were on contract for our spring fire season. I was out and about doing some personal chores yesterday afternoon so was not home listening to online scanner feed from the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS Division B online scanner feed,  NJFFS Division C online scanner feed). It was a nice early spring day and I saw evidence that the top layers of the soil had or were drying out after the rains last weekend. As I was driving around, I tuned into WCBS AM (880) and heard a short report, all of perhaps 30 seconds, that there were a few brush fires burning around the region (northern NJ, NYC and adjoining counties including Long Island) and eastern CT). I heard nothing more than that. I wondered if any of the NJFFS SEATs had dropped on a fire in support of the firefighters on the ground. 

I got my answer when I went to Section B10 webpage earlier this afternoon and learned of a nine acre fire that burned in Sussex County NJ off of U.S. Route 206, an area that I've driven by a few times. NJFFS Alpha 3 (Ag Cat) and Delta 6 (helicopter and bucket) worked the fire. In addition, there was a smaller fire elsewhere in Sussex County that took less than 30 minutes to contain according to this report from the NJ Herald.

New Jersey Herald

direct link to video and report from NJ Herald

Pennsylvania

Spring fire season is, or soon will be underway in Pennsylvania, my neighboring State to the west. Here four stories that I heard about courtesy of Wildfire News of the Day:

A trash fire got out of control, burning a couple of acres in Ormsby, PA on April 1 reported by The Bradford Era on April 2, 2014.

A 2.5 acre wildfire  in Blacklick Twsp., PA on March 31 required a few municipal fire companies before the fire was brought under control, from the Indiana Gazette.

I wrote here about Air Tractor 802's Single Engine Air-Tankers that are now on contract in Pennsylvania. I learned from  this article from the Daily American that there is a helitanker at the Somerset County Airport in Pennsylvania.

Finally, there was a nice article in the Bradford Era on April 1 saying that the spring wildfire season in Pennsylvania may be short in some parts of the State because the snow hung around through most of March in the northwestern part of the State. I also learned about the ways the snow melts and how it can affect wildfire danger.